what goes up... you know the rest

27 January 2010

After riding the high from such a wonderful week, I guess I should have known what would happen. The emotional roller coaster. again... And trust me, the drop from such a high peak was not fun. at all. I'm back on level ground now, but the way down was a doozie. I don't really want to talk about it, but to say that I think I have truly become a part of my community. My counterpart and host family were the ones that made me laugh and helped me through my bad day. They are all tuned to my emotions in a way that is almost creepy. Haha Maybe it is because my emotions are always so clearly etched on face, who knows.

Enough about the down days. They aren't as much fun to write about. Plus, continuing with my positive thinking mantra, you are now entitled to a good thing to balance out the bad. So, I will tell you a funny anecdote (or two) (or maybe three)
1. I came home from school the other day and my host aunt was here. I joined the family for a cup of tea and my aunt said to me- "you get prettier every time I see you (roughly translated) I thought it was really sweet of her, plus it was the day that I had my hair in my newly found french braided twisty thing, and we all know the truth that Kyrgyzstan has made me way to sickly pale to be considered pretty, but I was grateful for the compliment anyway.. until she added "it is because you want to get a kyrgyz man, isn't it?" (again roughly translated) My entire family had a good laugh.

2. I went with my host mom and sisters to a different host aunts' house for a visit (not like real guesting, just a family tea) My sisters (like every other teenage girl on the planet apparently) are obsessed with Twilight. So, we watched it in Russian (again) I'm not sure if you all have seen the movie or not, but there is a part where the main character slips on ice and falls down. At this point in the movie, my normally quiet Apa pipes up and says "that's like our jessika, falling down on flat land." I've written an entire blog about falling down, so I don't really need to elaborate, but I think they are all still amused about my lack of grace. Also, according to Ata, I should stand on my head for six minutes a day, and do somersaults to improve my balance. In the words of Momma (it was 5am when we talked, so the words might not be exactly right, but the general gist was:) "and then you can break your neck instead of an ankle." haha thanks mom.

3. When we first got to Kyrgyzstan, a wise and experienced volunteer (a k-16, and now that i think about it, I've been here longer than he had been at that time haha) told us about the stages of being a volunteer:
first stage: volunteer sees a hair in food. stops eating
second stage: volunteer sees a hair in food. picks out hair. eats.
third stage: volunteer sees a hair in food. eats around the hair.
fourth stage: volunteer sees a hair in food. eats the hair with the food.
I think you all know where this is going. We had delicious pumpkin manti last saturday. On sunday we had the leftovers. As I was eating said delicious pumpkin manti, on the piece on my fork, headed to my mouth, I spotted a hair, and then I kept eating! I thought "it was only a little hair." No sooner than the thought crossed my mind, the realization of what I had just done hit me. I ate a hair. Knowingly. And I am less bothered by that fact than I know that I should be. Haha I guess we can add that to “the list of things I never thought I’d do.”

All jokes aside, being “integrated” into my community is a truly fantastic feeling. And coming from the girl who doubted if she could make it through the whole week of site visit without ETing, that is saying something. Now if I am out of my village for more than a day or two, I find myself missing it. Weird, huh? I guess it just show the adaptability of the human spirit. There are some days when I miss home in America terribly. But, my little village nestled between two mountain ranges, with snow on the ground perpetually since November, with temperamental electricity, with an abundance of meat and a lack of vegetables and with some of the most welcoming people I have ever known has become my home, and I love it.

I still miss you though.
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess

p.s. what happened to January? I think I might be in some sort of time warp because time is going way to fast.


It is later now and I just wanted to add a few addendums from today:

I just got my butt kicked at UNO, playing with my host family. I gave my sisters the cards so they could play whenever they want and my oldest sister told me that they probably wouldn’t play without me. In her words “without you it isn’t interesting.” I love my host family.

Also, I fell down again just now when I went outside to dump the bucket of water that I used to wash my hair. So not only does my wrist really hurt, I also got covered in soapy water. Haha. Only me, right?